A Warden's Call
by N00benville
Summary: Edouard is ready to die. As a Grey Warden, he knew he would have to face his Calling. It is his time. But when he meets a dwarf from the Legion of the Dead, a group of mercenaries, and a Dalish mage, Edouard takes up what he believes is his final mission: a mission which could change Thedas forever. (I will probably put out a page worth of work twice a week)
1. Chapter 1

"Damned things," Edouard said, cursing the Deep Roads, yet being thankful for his ability to detect darkspawn. "You can't leave an old Warden alone, can you?" He readied his mace, raised his shield, and waited for the darkspawn. He heard them before he saw them. They came running after Edouard, and he ran to instigate the upcoming fight. It was only a small group of hurlocks, and they didn't pose much of a challenge, but he partially hoped he would break. It had been 28 years and 3 months since he was made a Grey Warden. This was his Calling, and he was ready to die. Yet he still dispatched anything that came his way.

Edouard sat down. He was tall, with brown skin, and a muscular form. He had thick, black hair that went to his shoulders. His face was covered in scars from battles long past. He drank from a waterskin, realising that this might be his last drink before the comforting warmth of the Maker's embrace. Putting the skin away, he forged ahead. _I'm going to miss Orlais_, he thought. He would miss it all. The Chantry, the political intrigue, and most of all, the other Wardens. He was pulled out of his revery by his darkspawn sense. He could detect a few Hurlocks, maybe a Genlock or two. The Deep Roads were toying with his sense. He couldn't quite notice everything. That's when he saw them. He was right about the Hurlocks and Genlocks. What he didn't notice was the Ogre. Edouard sighed. He charged ahead, into the bulk of the group.

Edouard put his shield between himself and the front lines of the darkspawn. He rammed them aside. As the darkspawn recovered, he leapt on top of the Ogre, and started smashing it's head with his mace. The Ogre roared, and tried to knock him off, but he would not falter. He kept hitting until the Ogre fell. Several darkspawn were crushed. He got off the dead Ogre's back. The remaining darkspawn went after him. He hit a Genlock with his shield, turned around, and sent the his mace into the side of a Hurlock's head. His darkspawn sense went off. He turned around to see dozens of Genlocks and a Hurlock Alpha. He turned back around just in time to send his mace down on a Genlock's head. As the group, led by the Alpha, marched towards him, he ran. He would not fall to such unworthy opponents as Genlocks. Then he stopped. He turned around, pulled a jar out of his satchel, and lobbed it at the group. It shattered, and a fire started. Satisfied, he fled.

Within half an hour, Edouard was far away. He faced very little resistance to his movement, and he was able to rest. He pulled a potato and a half mask out of his satchel. While eating the potato, he examined the mask. It was porcelain, adorned with intricate black linework, and a single yellow feather. He put it back in the satchel. It didn't matter anymore. He was going to die. No symbol of Orlais would change that. He finished the potato and stood up. He shook the blood off of his Silverite armor. Normally, he would wear his Warden armor, but he would prefer to end his stint as a Warden the way he began it. He continued on, until he felt darkspawn presence. Then, he heard sounds of battle. Confused, he ran in the direction of the noise. He saw three dwarves being assaulted by darkspawn. One was far behind, using a crossbow, while two others were in close combat. The dwarves fought viciously, but they fell. The dwarf with the crossbow was the next target. Edouard readied his weapons. He ran after the darkspawn as they got closer to the crossbowman.


	2. Chapter 2

The dwarf dropped her crossbow, and pulled out two daggers. She threw one at an oncoming Hurlock, then gutted a Genlock. She jumped to the body of the Hurlock and grabbed her knife. She spun around and slashed a Genlock's throat. Another jumped at her, and she rammed a dagger straight into it's face. Then she saw a human. She was confused. Why was a lone human in the Deep Roads? He shouted something, but it was too late. A Hurlock slashed at her with a sword. Without thinking, Edouard threw his hammer. It connected with the Hurlock's chest. It roared in pain and dropped it's sword. She spun around and stabbed the Hurlock. Edouard breathed a sigh of relief. He went over to the corpses and grabbed his hammer. He looked to the dwarf.

"Sorry about your companions." he said. She took off her helm to reveal a round face, long red hair, and blocky tattoos. She simply shrugged.

"They've already died before." Edouard was confused. Then it sunk in.

"You're Legion of the Dead." she nodded.

"We were going after a group of mercenaries who slaughtered dwarven soldiers and fled into the Deep Roads. We were sent because Legion are typically considered 'experts' on the subject of the Deep Roads. Not as expert as you, Warden, but still experts nonetheless."

"How did you-?" Edouard asked before being cut off.

"Only a Warden could survive alone this far in the Deep Roads." she replied, nonchalantly. Edouard chuckled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to Orzammar. There's no way I can go further by myself." she turned to leave.

"Wait." Edouard said. The dwarf turned. "I will accompany you." The dwarf stood still, thinking it over.

"Sure. What's your name, Warden?" she asked. She went ahead, Edouard following.

"I am Edouard DeCorps. And you, dwarf?" The dwarf paused.

"I gave up my name years ago. I suppose you may call me Legion." With that, she continued walking. She stopped again.

"What's wrong?" Edouard asked. Legion turned around and went back to the corpses. She started breaking through the stone, two holes big enough for dwarves. Then she put her fallen comrades in the holes. She replaced the stone, and she scratched the Legion of the Dead heraldry over the stone.

"We can go now." she said. They continued on her mission.


	3. Chapter 3

Brekkan used his staff as a walking stick. His leg still hadn't healed. His aptitude for battle magic didn't help when he needed a healer. On top of that, he didn't take any health poultices from the clan before he left. The wound on his shin was bandaged up, but that was the extent of the care taken to stem the bleeding.

"Why do Genlocks have to be so short?" he asked out loud, knowing no one would hear. There were no darkspawn for miles, so he was truly alone. No potions, no monsters, no society. Back in clan Lavellan, he knew everyone. Outside of the clan, he was an outcast, and worse, an apostate. Shaking away the thought, he trudged on.

Eventually, he reached a crossroad. He decided to continue on. A few minutes later, he immediately regretted his earlier decision. Brekkan ran straight into darkspawn. Luckily, he was not alone. He saw about a dozen people, all wearing leather and carrying daggers. Some were elves, some were humans, and one was a Qunari. They were flurrying around the battlefield, some disappearing from view, only to show up behind different darkspawn. But they were severely outnumbered. For every one person, there were another ten darkspawn. Brekkan realized he had to help. Thinking quickly, he casted barrier spells on the non-darkspawn. Then, he started firing bolts of fire from his staff, slowing down occasionally to reposition his leg. With the fighters keeping the darkspawn off of him, Brekkan was able to take down the darkspawn with ease. Soon, they were all dead. With a sigh, he went over to the celebrating fighters.

"Greetings." Brekkan said. The Qunari walked over to him, sheathing his daggers. He outstretched his hand, and Brekkan took it.

"Greetings to you, elf. My name is Andro, leader of the Silent Blades," Andro shook his arm. "Who might you be?"

"I am Brekkan. I'll be on my way in a bit, I just need health poultices. Do you have any to spare?" he asked, gesturing to his shin, which had reopened and bled through the bandages. The Qunari gestured to an elf, who took a health poultice off her belt. She tossed it to Andro, and he passed it to Brekkan.

"Here you go. If you don't mind me asking, why are you in the Deep Roads alone?" the giant asked. Brekkan sighed.

"I needed to get away from it all." he said. Andro chuckled.

"Don't we all. You wanna come with us? You can join the Blades. We need a good mage. Plus, working with us earns some good gold." Brekkan turned the poultice bottle in his hand. He put it in his pack, and put his arm out.

"You have a deal." he said, smiling. Andro laughed and shook Brekkan's hand. The Blades cheered. Brekkan had a good feeling about this.


	4. Chapter 4

Edouard and Legion made good time. Legion wasn't chatty, but Edouard didn't mind. The Deep Roads seemed empty, as if all the darkspawn simply vanished. But Edouard knew better. Soon, they reached a crossroads. Legion stopped dead in her tracks. She crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Let's keep going this way." she said, pointing forward. Edouard nodded in agreement. They continued on. Soon, they came across what looked like the site of a massive battle. The only casualties seemed to be darkspawn.

"Well," Edouard said, impressed "Someone's been busy." Legion knelt down next to a large concentration of the bodies. She examined the corpses.

"Each one has a few punctures, and some seem to be scorched. The mercenaries didn't have a mage." She stood up. Edouard started to look around. He walked a bit farther from the body pile to see several discarded flasks, each one empty. Walking back a bit, he saw blood. Examining it closer, he saw it didn't belong to a darkspawn.

"Interesting. Let's continue on. Maybe we'll find those mercenaries farther ahead." He said. Legion nodded. They walked on, but with more purpose than before.

"We set up camp here!" Andro shouted. He was tall and wiry, but still muscular enough to fight. Both of his horns were broken, and his hair was pulled back into a ponytail. His troops cheered. They got to work setting up bedrolls, while others started a fire. Brekkan started to help. Andro gestured at him, and he went to him. The elf was shorter than most elves, and scrawny. His pale skin put emphasis on his purple eyes and red facial tattoos, depicting jagged branches with leaves wrapping around his face.

"Yes sir?" Brekkan asked. Andro knelt down slightly.

"Do you know why we're in the Deep Roads?" he said softly, just enough so Brekkan could hear. Brekkan shook his head. Andro sighed. "We are here because someone is going after something that has been left untouched for years. Something that needs to be destroyed." Brekkan looked confused. Andro sighed again.

"Long ago, the dwarves created golems. They required certain… items to build them. After years, the dwarves lost these items, due mostly to darkspawn expansion. However, the Hero of Fereldan found one of the items and used it to build more golems to help fight the Archdemon. Everyone assumed that what he found was the only one of it's kind. But, if what our employers say is true, everyone was wrong." Brekkan tilted his head.

"What did your employers say?" he asked.

"They said that there is another Anvil, and someone that isn't in their right mind is looking for it. Our job is to hunt the mercenaries looking for this 'Anvil' and kill them."

As soon as Andro finished his sentence, they heard a noise. Turning, they saw a dwarf arming a crossbow, and a human holding a hammer. The dwarf aimed her crossbow at Andro.

"Surrender, or I shoot." she said.


End file.
